Quest: Love Me [Kazifel] [Finished OMG FINALLY]

[The Jenn]

Obvious to his internal turmoil, Femi giggled at his comment. Had he actually been able to blush, she would have been much more curiously interested and pursued the subject further. As it was, she just smiled happily and pulled away to drag him further into the house. "You go into the bedroom and I'll find some different fabrics and textures. If you really can feel again, love, we need to refresh your memory!"

She left him in the hall near the bedroom to dash for the storage closet, far too excited to walk like a normal person. This was far too wonderful a revelation for anything approaching calm. She grabbed up all of the scrap cloth she could find, fur and faux-fur and velvet and satin and cotton and silk and linens and burlap and anything else that was readily snatchable. She had a nice collection of samples clutched to her pale chest by the time she hustled her way into the bedroom.

The scraps all fell onto the sheets with a loud fabric-hitting-fabric 'whump' and she turned to Kazifel, looking eager. "You need to reacquaint yourself with touch, dearest! So that when I say your wings are made of silk, you know that I feel this when I pet them!" She grasped a small square of silk and thrust it towards him with a happy little grin.

[The Jenn]

Jenn and Kari both receive 2 tokens each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Kari Muffin]

Kazifel blinked at his sudden excitment at the use of the word "bedroom." Okay, he needed to calm down after that. He shook his head in dismay. He walked into the bedroom and flopped on the bed nonchalantly. Home was lovely. Home.

He perked up when she dropped the fabrics on the bed. Kazifel accepted the silk that was forced into his hands. Silk. Soft, and fine. "Wow, this really is quite nice," he said blinking. His wings were that soft? He had to thank Femi for that a hundred times over. He looked up at her with bright eyes. "Thank you so much. This is just... amazing."

He reached for another piece of fabric. "Felt? Right? I used to use this to make small dolls for my sister. I wasn't very good back then." He shrugged it off. He used to sew so very often for his sisters, and now? Well, maybe he could start up again....

[The Jenn]

Femi scooted her way next to him on the bed, the pile of fabric in front of them both, and managed to 'squirrel' her way under one of his arms while he held one of the swatches. She couldn't possibly deprive him of touch after he'd been so long without, and he already admitted to liking how soft and warm her fur was, so she pressed herself against him happily and wrapped her arms around his middle. Her tail was fuzzed with excitement and activity.

"Yes, that one's felt. I... did you really used to make dolls?" She turned her head to look at his face, wide eyes quite close. Personal space? What was that? With everyone else, oh yes. But Kazifel wasn't just a Person. He was hers.

She nosed at his cheek and beamed. "And of course you're welcome, beautiful Kazifel! Nothing but silk would have done. Tell me, can you feel it when I touch the membrane or are they really just ornaments?" She managed to disentangle one paw from his coat, where she'd buried it, and reached out to stroke a wing sail delicately. It wouldn't do to damage the fabric.

[Kari Muffin]

"Yes," he said as she curled up around him. He grinned as he picked up another piece of fabric, and enjoying the feeling of how warm Femi was. This, this was a whole new level of the word "happy." Kazifel smiled as he spoke, mentally categorizing what he remembered of fabric, "I always wanted to make dolls. My magic wasn't very good for it though, so I had to do it the hard way. I guess I was the reason that Cassiel got the idea of... transferring someone into a doll's body."

And the subject was dropped, thankfully, when Femi reached out to touch his wings. He blinked as he felt her hand brush up against them. It wasn't as strong as it was when she touched his arm or snuggled next to him. It didn't even feel like his clothing brushing up against him. "Sort... of. I don't know. In my biped form I had wings like this, but they were different. I can almost feel it... but it doesn't seem right at all." He sighed.

Cassiel's doing. She loved his wings so much, she simply had to put them on. She never really thought of how they would work or if they would work correctly.

[The Jenn]

Femi bit her lip and dropped her paw from the soft, pretty wings. "Maybe you don't feel them as well because you don't see them as much 'yours' as the rest of you? I'm not sure, don't even know how to guess... but oh well. They're just lovely anyway." She dug through a few more of the samples, petting them herself and wondering about this Cassiel-sister-doll maker person more. Femi really didn't think she'd like her, not the least because of a jealousy she could feel pinging whenever he said the name.

Another worry had been weighing on her mind for a short while, blown away until now by the delightful shock of his being able to feel again. "Kazifel, I have a question. This... this is your home now, right? You won't mind staying here and living with me? Because I don't think I ever want to live outside the Wood, out where there are weird people. You're the only foreigner I've ever been able to stand without booting you straight out of the forest or feeding you to a predator or anything like that." The sentiments of a true Tulgey... everyone else was weird. Home was just a little bit mad.

[Kari Muffin]

Femi was probably right. They didn't seem like his. When had he ever belonged to himself besides now? Certainly not back then with his sister. Now was different.

He raised an eyebrow at her statement. He wouldn't mind staying here for the rest of his life. He sure as hell didn't want to go back to the Highlands. Though he did miss Corvistowne, and he did have unfinished business. "I would love to live with you forever but..." He looked at her for a long moment. She wasn't going to like what he had to say. "I want to go back to Corvistowne sometime though... I just can't let go unless I say a proper good-bye."

He turned back to the fabric with a sigh. Why couldn't he just let go of Cassiel and be done with it? Why did he still feel bad?

[The Jenn]

Femi's heart caught in her throat at that 'but', the hanging pause threatening to break her heart. It was poised on a brink, teetering, ready to shatter like glass if she refused him now. She didn't know if she could let him. She didn't know if she could stop him. She didn't know anything in that heart-stopping moment.

And then he finished his sentence and she let out the breath she barely realized she'd been holding in a long, relieved sigh. That was much less terrifying than the words her mind had oh-so-helpfully conjured. Some of the better split-second phrases included 'but I just realized I don't need or love you', 'but I just realized that I hate it here', 'but you really aren't what I'm looking for', and others. The greatest hits titles of her despair. That none of them had emerged from his lips relieved her to no end.

"Oh, well... I suppose I can understand that. If it's just a visit to say good-bye, maybe... maybe I can come too. Though I've never been out of the Wood. And I don't know how to get there. And I'd need to be with you the whole time or I might just run back home if any of them get near me alone." She shivered a little at the thought. Not only People near her, but strange, foreign People who weren't white and didn't have black wing-markings and weren't touched-in-the-head with that little bit of mad. Maybe that was one reason she could love Kazifel like she did? He seemed a little mad too. It was adorable.

[Kari Muffin]

"It's a good thing then that I know how to get there." He grinned. Even though he had no idea how he had managed to get into the forest, he knew where Corvistowne was. That was the one place he could find when he had to. He imagined it would be the same way with his new home.

"And I would never leave you behind or alone. I don't like people very much, and they've never liked me. I wouldn't let them near you." He nodded in conformation. In his life he had never had any friends besides Cassiel and Mili. And his last few experiences with people were just... bad. Femi was the only one who had ever treated him like he was worth the time of day. "You know, I'll never leave unless you want me to."

[The Jenn]

"You would be my big bad wolf," Femi said with a giggle, one hand going to hide her grin ineffectually. The thought of him standing tall with fur and fangs just made her happy inside, even if it was only in his memories. She wished she could have seen him when he was a wolf. "Keep the weird people away from me and let me snuggle against you and love you, and I'll be your 'anything you want'." She licked his cheek and picked up another sample of cloth.

Then promptly dropped it in surprise. "Oh dearest, I would never!" Her eyes were horrified at the mere thought. "Unless I was under some sort of mind control... never, never ever would I want that. And if I said I did, it would be lying and not me!" Another hug seemed in order. Or perhaps a glomp. A careful one, because she really didn't want to push his wings down against anything, and anyway, they were both sitting.